Mineral and Petroleum Economics

There are few topics more central to understanding oil and mining than the economics which underlie these industries.

This Topic Overview reviews the specific features of the economics of oil and mining, looks at “money in, money out” – how the economics of a gold mine or oil field, or any other commodity, stack up in terms of simple cash flows. A third section then layers on these real world complexities. How do operators arrive at end estimates of profitability? What measurements do they use, and how do they handle constantly changing operating and market conditions? How do governments do the same?